A plasmid DNA and a linear DNA (both are of the same size) have one site for a restriction endonuclease. When cut and separated on agarose gel electrophoresis, plasmid shows one DNA band while linear DNA shows two fragments. Explain.

1 Answer

It is because plasmid is a circular DNA molecule. When cut with enzyme, it becomes linear but does not get fragmented. Whereas, a linear DNA molecule gets cut into two fragments. Hence, a single DNA band is observed for plasmid while two DNA bands are observed for linear DNA in agarose gel.